Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff keeping it old school

Some of the details released yesterday about Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff didn't sound terribly old school to us (see: stylus control and internet play), but Tecmo wants us to know that the game's roots won't be forgotten in its DS rebirth.

Rather than take the "janky 3D" direction chosen by other football games on the DS -- hello, Madden -- a Tecmo spokesperson assured MTV's Multiplayer blog that Kickoff would be a "classic 2D game." Score! We're already envisioning this as Tecmo Bowl with Super Dodgeball Brawlers-style visuals, and that makes us go all tingly inside.

Also keeping with tradition (though arguably in a less appealing way), the title won't come with licensed NFL teams, thanks to the fact that EA recently secured the rights to those until the end of 2012. This means the game will instead come with 32 teams with names that "fit with the original spirit of Tecmo Bowl," which can then be customized within the game.